Govt hails Unicef’s financial injection into sports
Malawi Government has hailed the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) for the financial contribution into sports at primary school level, saying it will go a long way into promoting sports at the grass roots.
District commissioner for Salima Reverend Moses Chimphepo said this during the finals of the Action for Adolescent Girls sports tournament that took place at Katelera Primary School ground on Saturday.
Four schools—Chagunda, Maganga, Kazembe and Lungumadzi—competed in volleyball, football and netball.
Unicef injected $20 000 (about K2.9 million) towards the event.
Lungumadzi were champions in football after beating Maganga 6-5 whereas Maganga emerged champions in netball beating Chagunda 31-6. In volleyball, Chagunda beat Kazembe 3-1.
“We really are grateful to Unicef for financing these activities. The concept behind the Action for Adolescent Girls tournament is to use sports to disseminate messages wooing girls who have dropped out of school to come back, at the same time promoting sports at thegrassroots level,” said Chimphepo.
He said his school is faced with high dropout rates, especially among girls.
“Through this tournament, we are telling the girls the dangers of early marriages both to their health and economic status. So far the response has been good,” he said.
Sports district officer for Salima, Nellie Seyani, who was coordinating the tournament which started in February, also thanked Unicef for the initative.
